Page 140 of Amethyst and Iron
He wrapped me up in his arms. “Fuck, I’ve missed you. I’ve missed you so much.”
He dipped his head and heat rolled through me, knowing that motion combined with that look so well. I stretched onto my tiptoes to meet him, to feel his lips on mine, to sink into one another in a way that—
He eased from me all of a sudden.
Off my look, he warned, “He’s coming.”
I frowned in question, but got the answer in the next second as Ketheron burst into the apartment and made a beeline for us in the living room, then threw his arms around Lazriel from behind, his power meaning Lazriel had to steel himself. Even then, he staggered a couple of steps to absorb the impact. It was why he’d pulled from me, to take the hit of the excited Ketheron.
“You have been dearly missed, friend,” Ketheron told him, as he wrapped Lazriel in the sweetest bear hug I’d ever seen.
Lazriel grasped his arm on him softly. “Missed you right back, big guy.”
Ketheron squeezed him tighter and I saw Lazriel wince. I thought I heard something crack too.
Ketheron loosened his hold, his eyes wide. “Did I break you? I’m so sorry, I—”
“Minor upper left arm fracture. All good. It’s already healing.”
“Already?” I asked. He could heal fast, but I wasn’t aware it was that fast, mere seconds.
He winked at me. “Got a lot of fresh blood in my system.” He tilted his head back to look at Ketheron dwarfing him. “You guys didn’t visit any of those places we talked about without me, right?”
I smiled. He was changing the subject so Ketheron didn’t focus on his accidental bone fracturing. Lazriel knew no visits anywhere aside from Haven Initiative had been possible with the threats out there and Blackline Protocol still in effect. But he was going with it anyway to help Ketheron—just like the sweetheart that he was at his core.
Hell, all of my men were.
Cassius most definitely was and he was wearing that gentle heart on his sleeve with me now. And Sylas, while he kept that part of him down a lot deeper, I still saw it, and I absolutely felt it. And Ketheron, although not one of our loves, he was a cutie pie in a whole other way. Part of the family, but in a sort of younger sibling dynamic.
“Where are Sylas and Cassius?” I asked Ketheron, before the two of them got into it. It was clear Ketheron had formed a special bond with Lazriel.
Sylas, Cassius, and Ketheron had gone to secure Sorin in that pocket dimension estate. Well, for Sorin, they’dadjusted itto make it more akin to an actual cell.
Lazriel had been here with me, him spending a lot of the time cleaning himself up.
And I’d seen that he’d also needed some space to get a handle on what had happened earlier. Before he’d left, Sylas had filled me in on what Victor Halrow had done.
“Outside,” Ketheron spoke, pulling me from my thoughts. “Talking in the foyer. Don’t worry, Velra, that has been warded now as well, the perimeter no longer only encompassing the door to the apartment itself. We saw to it before I came back in.”
Talking in the foyer?
I eyed Lazriel.
He shook his head. “Can’t hear a thing.”
“You won’t,” Ketheron said. “Cassius has used anauditory reductionspell.”
That didn’t bode well.
“I’ll see what’s going on.” When Lazriel moved to go with me, I assured him, “I’ve got it. Catch up with Ketheron. Oh, Cassius bought more marshmallows earlier—go for it.”
As I moved past them and headed for the apartment door, I looked over my shoulder to see Ketheron releasing Lazriel, then tugging him along with a hand to his tank top. I chuckled to myself, then headed through the door, approaching the foyer.
I caught sight of Cassius and Sylas talking.
Cassius was running his hand over his jaw looking like he was at the end of his rope.
Sylas was pacing back and forth in front of him, his hooded coat sweeping about.
